All Forum Posts by: Jerry W.

@Michael Quarles, good to hear from you again.  I also miss a lot of the folks who originally posted on here and did interviews.  I didn't find bigger pockets until around 2008 I think.  I found an article from Brandon Turner while I was trying to educate myself on how to be a better landlord because I had messed up badly in renting to one tenant. I followed that article to bigger pockets and the Pod casts.  This was an amazing completely free site then.  Josh had a really serious health issue with one daughter and had to step back, and then sold the company.   Then we lost Brandon.   I spent every waking hour of about 2 months reading every article under the Learning section and was simply amazed at what I didn't know.  I then grew my knowledge along with Brandon Turner who we got to see progress personally.  Pretty much all of the old staff left and everyone cranks out a book to sell once or twice a month.  The site simply grew up.  The new owners got serious about monetizing the platform and it has progressed accordingly. Now you will hear 15 minutes of advertising for every hour of content. The articles are less in depth, and are short and fluffy. It was magnificent and free, now it is good and you have a lot of stuff being sold.  The site grew into a business.  It still has a massive amount of free information, but it has lost the small tight knit group of folks.  I still like to give back when I can, and to be honest I usually enjoy it, but it was an important source of education for me that I am still grateful for.  I try to pay it back once in awhile.  Good seeing you again.

@Dan N., one thing I really want to stress that most folks mess up is a registered agent.  You MUST have a local registered agent.  One if you do not register your company as a foreign company you usually cannot file an answer in court if you are sued.  If you register but do not have a registered agent they can often serve you by publication, or perhaps by serving the Secretary of state or any of several ways that might result in you not knowing that you have been sued.  They they get a big fat default judgement against you.  This is really bad.  I have actually seen this before and courts usually stick to the rule unless you get dam lucky.  If you are just a plain person they usually must serve you in person.  Not so if you are a company.

It is my understanding that this information is restricted, even more so than tax returns.  A defense attorney will not be able to get this information for purposes of a lawsuit.  Just having that information might get them in trouble unless they have a good alternate source of the information.  After the September 11 attack on the world trade towers, they passed a lot of laws aimed at being able to track people, requirements on having identification to open a bank account, and reporting on tax transactions of over $10,000.  It turns out those laws intended to track terrorists were massively helpful in tracking money laundering for organized crime and were very effective at it.  This is probably an offshoot from how effective that law was.

@Dan N., to the best of my knowledge a Wyoming LLC can own property in any state, however the LLC must register as a foreign entity in that state. There are a lot of good things about Wyoming LLCs, but the favorable Wyoming laws don't matter as much because the state you are in will apply the laws of the state the property is located in. If you file an eviction then it must be filed locally, if your LLC is sued they will sue locally. There are some benefits to having an LLC on reduced liability, but there are more expenses. One your loans will be a higher interest rate, next you will have annual filings, the cost of a registered agent every year, and items like that. Just like most things in life there are good and bad to both choices. I really like LLCs compared to corporations because of the free stepped up basis for passing property to my children. A sub S election will probably block the free stepped up basis benefit though.

I am a small time STR operator in Wyoming, so my insight might not apply to larger areas, but I find that doing a theme for my STRs seems to get attention, The Rendezvous, The Cache, The Bunkhouse, The Eagle's Nest, The Cozy, etc. It sets a tone and I think adds a little interest that might not be there with just a physical description. I try to follow the theme with my decor.

@Maricelly Torres, welcome to BP.  Do you have the cocktail game tables folks sit at?  Like the old Pacman games?

@Peter Bras, I guess it depends how many units you have.  For mine I try to keep about 2 months of supplies on hand.  When it drops to one months worth I do an online order and it arrives within a week.  I do have a warehouse and tend to over supply some things I know will need eventually, like TP paper towels, kleenex, shampoo, laundry soap, etc.

Yes, despite the large slide it is already up and running again.

@Caroline Gerardo, I am far enough away it has never been an inconvenience.  It will really affect the folks who work in Jackson Hole, but cannot afford to live there.

@Gabriel Perez, I invest heavily in WY.  You can simply call several local banks and apply for loans.  Most do inhouse loans, and you would qualify for it like any other mortgage.  There are also several national lenders who advertise on this site as well who could probably help you out.  Feel free to reach out if you have questions.